After the success of Chandrayaan-3, ISRO has moved to the next phase of India’s lunar programme through Chandrayaan-4 and Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX. The two missions represent a clear progression from soft landing and surface exploration to sample return, deeper polar study, and preparation for India’s long-term goal of sending Indian astronauts to the Moon by 2040.
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan stated that India is working on the continuation of the Chandrayaan programme. In this sequence, Chandrayaan-4 is planned as a lunar sample return mission, while Chandrayaan-5 is expected to involve a heavier lander, a much heavier rover, and a longer operational life. These missions are part of a larger space roadmap that also includes Gaganyaan, the Bharatiya Antariksha Station by 2035, and a manned lunar mission by 2040.
Recalling Chandrayaan-3, Narayanan said India became the first country to achieve a soft landing near the Moon’s south pole. He also noted that the mission produced several scientific outcomes: around eight minerals were identified, seismic activity was studied, and the thermal profile of the Moon’s surface was understood. Chandrayaan-3’s lander operated for about 14 days on the lunar surface, and its rover weighed about 25 kg. These achievements and limitations now form the baseline for planning the next missions.
Chandrayaan-4 is designed as India’s lunar sample-return mission. Its central aim is to land on the Moon, collect samples, and bring them back to Earth for scientific study. It has been described as India’s most complex lunar endeavour yet. This capability has so far been demonstrated only by a few major space powers, and thus Chandrayaan-4 marks a major technological leap beyond Chandrayaan-3.
The Union Government has approved the Chandrayaan-4 mission, and ISRO has repeatedly indicated a target of 2028 for launch. Multiple statements by ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan refer to 2028 as the mission timeline. The mission is therefore at least two years away from the February 2026 reporting point.
According to the input, Chandrayaan-4 consists of the following modules:
Propulsion Module (PM), Descender Module (DM), Ascender Module (AM), Transfer Module (TM), and Re-entry Module (RM).
The DM and AM combined stack will soft-land on the Moon. The main soft landing will be carried out through an appropriate AM + DM descent trajectory supported by the navigation, guidance and control system. The safe landing depends heavily on choosing a site that satisfies all lander constraints.
ISRO has identified a landing location for Chandrayaan-4 in the South Polar region of the Moon. According to ISRO officials, four candidate sites in the Mons Mouton region were examined: MM-1, MM-3, MM-4, and MM-5. Out of these, MM-4 was chosen as the most suitable potential landing site.The four sites were fully characterised using high-resolution Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC) multi-view image datasets. It was found that a 1 km × 1 km area around MM-4 had the least hazardous percentage, a mean slope of 5 degrees, a mean height of 5,334 metres, and the largest number of hazard-free grids of size 24 m × 24 m. On this basis, MM-4 emerged as the preferred landing zone.
The Mons Mouton area is scientifically important because it lies close to permanently shadowed craters believed to contain water-ice deposits. This makes it valuable not only from a landing-safety perspective but also from the standpoint of sample science, resource study, and the broader understanding of the Moon’s geological history.
The selection of candidate sites was supported by imagery from the OHRC onboard the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. The camera can capture the lunar surface at about 32 cm per pixel, enabling detection of small craters, boulders, subtle slopes, illumination conditions, and communication visibility with Earth. These datasets were used to generate 3D elevation models and hazard maps of the Mons Mouton region, helping narrow down the safest landing area.
Because the mission will retrieve lunar samples and return them to Earth, the selection of the landing site is crucial. Chandrayaan-4 is not merely a landing mission; it is a mission in which the spacecraft must land safely, gather scientifically meaningful material, and then launch back from the Moon’s surface with the samples. This makes terrain analysis, illumination, hazard mapping, and geological suitability all equally important.
Ahead of Chandrayaan-4, a study by researchers from IIT Kharagpur and Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, offered an explanation for the formation of the Moon’s titanium-rich basalts. The study focused on ilmenite-bearing cumulates (IBC) and explored how ancient lunar rocks may have formed under deep internal processes.According to the input, rock samples were exposed to pressures close to 3 gigapascals and temperatures above 1,500°C. Under these conditions, partial melting occurred, producing material similar to titanium-rich lunar basalts already observed on the Moon.
The results showed that the formation of magma depends strongly on temperature. When temperature rises, moderately titanium-rich melts form and then change into intermediate-Ti basalts through a more direct process. When temperature decreases, the process follows a different path: high-titanium melts continue to evolve, become richer in titanium and lower in magnesium, and then unite with other rising magmas before reaching the surface. This helps explain the differences in the formation of titanium-rich basalt samples obtained in earlier lunar missions.
The study also suggests that the Moon’s interior is dynamic, not fixed. There is molten material that moves towards the surface under lower-pressure conditions, leading to volcanic activity, while under higher pressures this molten material moves downward into deeper mantle regions. The continuous upward and downward movement of this material is described as mantle overturn, indicating a system of internal redistribution.
These findings are important for Chandrayaan-4 because the mission aims to retrieve samples from the Moon and return them to Earth. Understanding the geological nature of the lunar subsurface can influence the choice of landing site, the kind of samples expected, and the scientific value of returned material. The research therefore supports deeper mission planning for landing regions and sample composition.
Chandrayaan-5, also called LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration), is the fifth mission in India’s Chandrayaan series and a joint mission between ISRO and JAXA. It is intended to study lunar volatile materials, including lunar water, in the vicinity of a Permanently Shadowed Region (PSR) near the lunar south pole.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the India-Japan Summit on 29 August 2025, welcomed the ISRO-JAXA collaboration for the Chandrayaan-5 mission. The Implementing Arrangement for LUPEX was exchanged between JAXA Vice President Matsuura Mayumi and Indian Ambassador Sibi George, giving formal shape to this partnership. Later, a Japanese delegation also visited ISRO to review mission status and explore future cooperation.
The LUPEX mission is designed to explore the resource-rich lunar south pole, especially the permanently shadowed regions, and to study hidden resources such as water ice. It is meant to improve understanding of the quantity, quality, and distribution of lunar water and other volatiles, which are important for future sustainable lunar exploration.
Under LUPEX, the mission will be launched by JAXA on its H3-24L launch vehicle. It will carry an ISRO-built lunar lander, which in turn will carry a Japanese rover, described in the inputs as a Japan-made / MHI-made rover. ISRO is also responsible for developing some scientific instruments for the mission. The scientific instruments are to be contributed by ISRO, JAXA, ESA, and NASA, all linked to the exploration and in-situ analysis of volatiles in the lunar polar region.
One of the clearest differences between Chandrayaan-3 and Chandrayaan-5 is the scale of the mission. Narayanan stated that while the Chandrayaan-3 rover weighed about 25 kg, the future mission would have a rover of about 350 kg. Another input states that the future rover is 10 times heavier than Pragyan. The mission life on the lunar surface is being discussed at around 100 days, compared to Chandrayaan-3’s 14-day surface phase.In another statement, it was said that while the Chandrayaan-3 lander weighed 1,600 kg, the new one would be about 6,800 kg. This indicates that Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX will be a much larger and more capable lunar mission.
The approximately 350 kg rover is expected to autonomously search for areas where water is likely to be present and collect soil samples using a drill. Observation equipment mounted on the rover will analyse the samples in detail. The increased mass of the rover implies greater scientific payload capacity, wider exploration ability, and longer operational endurance.
LUPEX is described as a precursor to ISRO’s future lunar sample-return efforts and to India’s eventual goal of sending Indian astronauts to the Moon by 2040. It is therefore an important link between present robotic missions and future human exploration.
Narayanan stated that India is working on the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme and is planning to send its own astronauts into space and bring them back safely. In one report, he said this could happen within the next two years. In another, he clarified that while the timeframe for uncrewed missions has shifted, the crewed mission was always planned for 2027 and remains on that date. Three uncrewed test missions are to precede the first crewed flight.
India plans to build its own space station by 2035. The first of the five modules is expected to be placed in orbit by 2028. One input describes the station as a 52-tonne facility.
Prime Minister Modi has directed ISRO to work towards sending Indian astronauts to the lunar surface and bringing them back safely by 2040. Chandrayaan-4 and Chandrayaan-5 are therefore stepping stones towards that objective.
Narayanan also referred to a Mars landing mission and the Venus Orbiter Mission, stating that these are under discussion for government approval. He also noted that Aditya-L1 has already begun producing scientific data and that India has completed 10 scientific missions, including AstroSat, which has completed a decade in orbit and continues to function.
Taken together, the uploaded screenshots and provided reports show a clear progression in India’s lunar strategy. Chandrayaan-4 is focused on sample return, advanced landing-site selection, and safe retrieval of lunar material from the south polar region, with MM-4 in Mons Mouton emerging as the preferred landing site. Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX is a larger India-Japan polar exploration mission aimed at studying water ice and volatiles through a heavier rover, heavier lander, and longer surface mission life. Both missions are central to India’s expanding lunar roadmap and to the long-term national objective of human missions to the Moon by 2040.